


Family Visit

by Sarren



Category: Sense8 (TV)
Genre: Found Family, Gen, Yuletide Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-24
Updated: 2015-12-24
Packaged: 2018-05-09 00:22:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,163
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5518508
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sarren/pseuds/Sarren
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sun shares Capheus's home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Family Visit

**Author's Note:**

  * For [justhuman](https://archiveofourown.org/users/justhuman/gifts).



> Yuletide Treat
> 
> Thank you so much to RidiculousMavis for a very last minute beta, you are awesome :)

It was always cold in the prison. Sun shivered and tucked the thin blanket more securely around her in a vain attempt to keep out the chill. The others told her that it was better than summer, when the humidity made the air close and tempers short. The authorities didn’t spend more money than they had to on the comfort of criminals. In the dim light that bled into the cell from the hall, Sun could just make out her cellmate’s sleeping form in the bed on the opposite side of the cell, huddled against the wall, curled in on herself, probably instinctively trying to keep warm. Occasionally she whimpered in her sleep. Sun didn’t envy Minsuh her nightmares; her cellmate was yet another woman driven to a terrible act by men’s cruelty. 

There was a new girl in the cell next door, Sun could hear muffled crying. It was only about midnight, Sun guessed, but she couldn’t get to sleep, her mind turning over and over. She rubbed her wrist, an old habit from when she was a small child, one she’d no desire to break.

“Why do you do that?” a voice in the darkness asked curiously. She wasn’t startled, she’d recognised his familiar, friendly, presence in her mind as he’d appeared. “I sense it is a very old injury, never forgotten.”

“My brother was always of weak character,” she said. “As a child, he would break rules and then lie to avoid consequences. If there was a way to blame me, he would. He could be vicious too, when no one was looking. Once he twisted my wrist so badly he cracked a bone.”

“What a terrible thing to do to a child,” Capheus said, and she could _feel_ his sympathy, in her mind, and in her heart. It was soothing.

“Yes, but at least it had one benefit – it inspired me to learn karate, and later, Muay Thai.” 

“Your skill has saved us all, many times,” Capheus said. “Perhaps it was fate that you have such a man for a brother.”

For her whole life Sun had resented her father and brother for their treatment of her. But if they had not been cruel, Capheus would be dead, and Riley and perhaps others of the cluster captured, prisoners of Whispers, enduring unimaginable horror.

“And my mother too,” Capheus said. “Without your help, I would not have the drugs she needs. Because of you, she is much better. I have my mother back, for which I am grateful.”

In their mind Sun felt Capheus’s love for his mother, deep in his soul, and she felt warmed by it, included, part of them.

“Would you like to meet her?” Capheus asked.

“She knows about me? About us?”

“Of course,” Capheus said cheerfully. 

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

“Please, you must call me Shiro,” Capheus’s mother insisted, taking Sun’s hand and pressing it warmly. She didn’t seem at all fazed to be talking to a foreign woman inhabiting her son’s body, and before Sun knew what was happening, Shiro had pulled her into a close hug. “Thank you for my son’s life,” Shiro murmured.

“You are welcome,” Sun said, holding herself stiffly, waiting for Shiro to release her. She wasn’t accustomed to physical affection; her body didn’t know how to react, how to relax.

But Shiro didn’t let go. She was warm and soft and reminded Sun of the way her own mother used to cuddle her when she was very small, before the cancer rendered her so thin and fragile. With a deep release of breath that was almost a sob, Sun abruptly relaxed into the hug, putting her own arms around Shiro in return. Shiro seemed to realise that Sun was feeling overwhelmed, she patted her back gently, making gentle ‘sh sh sh’ sounds.

After a while, Sun didn’t know how long, the tight feeling in her chest relaxed and she felt a little more peaceful. She took a deep, shuddering breath. Shiro relaxed her hold and her hands slid to hold Sun at arm’s length. “My son has told me about you,” she said. “I think that you haven’t had a good meal in a while.” 

“No,” Sun said simply. Prison food was designed to be nutritious and nothing else.

“Please, sit,” Shiro said, waving Sun over to the comfortable looking couch. Sun perched on the edge and watched Shiro as she started setting out dishes of food onto the table. “I have cooked several dishes in honour of your visit,” Shiro said.

“You should not have gone to such trouble,” Sun said.

“It is no trouble,” Shiro said. “Capheus has assured me that he will also enjoy the meal, so I get to feed two people for the cost of one,” she laughed.

Sun looked at the range of dishes set out. She hoped they hadn’t spent too much money on her.

Capheus beamed at her from where he was standing next to his mother at the stove. He leaned over and inhaled the spicy aroma coming from one of the pots. “Mmm,” he murmured, and smiled approvingly. As Shiro stepped obliviously towards him he shifted automatically out of the way. 

“It is of no concern,” Capheus reassured her. “Mr Kabaka has insisted on rewarding me generously for saving his life and the life of his daughter.”

“You didn’t want the money?”

“I just wanted him to leave us alone,” Capheus said. “I want no part of his world.”

“But you took it?”

“One does not say no to Mr Kabaka. I was able to persuade him to agree to release me from his employ, but he insisted on rewarding me with money as well…”

“You need the money to buy the medication your mother requires.”

“Yes.”

“A necessary evil, then.”

Capheus looked at his mother with such love that Sun felt tears start behind her eyes and then she could _feel_ the love too, not just for Shiro but for Sun too. A tear escaped and rolled down her cheek. She hurriedly brushed it away, embarrassed.

“Oh, my dear,” Shiro said, sitting down beside her. “I am very well,” she said, patting Sun’s hand.

Sun nodded, not trusting herself to speak.

Shiro seemed to understand that. With one last squeeze of Sun’s hand she got up. “Come,” she said. “Eat now, and then you can tell me all about yourself, and I can get to know my new daughter.”

Sun looked up at her in wonder. To be unconditionally accepted. To be considered part of a family. Valued. It was too much. She couldn’t process it now, she needed to be alone to process these feelings that wanted to overwhelm her. She took a deep breath and smiled, though she had a feeling it looked a little shaky, and stood up.

Beside her, Capheus beamed. “Welcome to our home, sister,” he said, and enfolded her in a hug. This time she didn’t stiffen, and she raised her arms and hugged him back.


End file.
